Monday, October 03, 2005

A very bad thing

For reasons I can't quite comprehend, The Apprentice: Martha Stewart is getting flip-flopped with E-Ring, meaning that it gets to recover from its early slump by squaring off against Lost.

Does anyone think that's the way to improve ratings? I suppose it represents a way to protect the investment in E-Ring and the relationship with Jerry Bruckheimer. But it's still pretty odd.

3 comments:

James said...

So you're now putting Martha against Lost, Criminal Minds (which is getting strong ratings) and Nanny 911?

Why do I have a feeling Nanny will beat Martha in the ratings (overall and/or 18-49 demo)?

It's obvious NBC has lost patience with Apprentice 2, but it may be afraid to shuffle the show to Bravo/CNBC or outright cancelling it, for fear Martha may walk off her daytime show (which hasn't been a ratings smash either).

Mark said...

Interestingly, I read yesterday that Martha is working on yet another show, where she brings together women and craftspeople to teach them how to renovate a house. Seems tailor-made for HGTV or the like, so she's got a shot at succeeding.

Where NBC is really stuck is that there's no easy way to winnow down the number of competitors on Martha's show without her firing 2 or 3 people at a whack. Which isn't going to help her image redefinition, as entertaining as it might actually be to watch.

You may very well be right about Nanny 911 taking a ratings win. I'm finding it repetitive, but you have to like the nannies. Much more so than Martha, certainly.

James said...

According to Marc Berman of Mediaweek, I was right at both counts...

OVERALL RATINGS

Nanny 911: 5.7
Martha: 5.3

18/49 DEMO

Nanny 911: 2.8
Martha: 2.1

Overall, both shows were way behind Lost and Criminal Minds, although Nanny has done much, much better than Head Cases.